How Not to Say What You Mean unmasks the language of hypocrisy, evasion, prudery, and deceit. This hugely entertaining collection highlights our tendency to use mild, vague, or roundabout expressions in preference to words that are precise, blunt, and often uncomfortably accurate.
Entries, drawn from all aspects of life: work, sexuality, age, money, and politics, provide the real meaning for well-known phrases such as above your ceiling, gardening leave, rest and recreation, count the daisies, God's waiting room, washed up, and fact-finding mission.